Pastor Mark Jackson delivers a sermon during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson delivers a sermon during a worship service at...

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Desiree Jackson,M leads a prayer with her husband Pastor Mark Jackson,L during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Desiree Jackson,M leads a prayer with her husband Pastor Mark...

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Pastor Mark Jackson embraces Jacob Knight,15, with his wife Desiree,R during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson embraces Jacob Knight,15, with his wife...

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Pastor Mark Jackson prepares for his sermon before a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson prepares for his sermon before a worship...

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Pastor Mark Jackson shops for flowers before a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson shops for flowers before a worship service at...

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Pastor Mark Jackson prays with Jordan Kirby,4, during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson prays with Jordan Kirby,4, during a worship...

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Pastor Mark Jackson sings gospel hymns with wife Desiree,L, and other congregants during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson sings gospel hymns with wife Desiree,L, and...

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Pastor Mark Jackson delivers a sermon during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson delivers a sermon during a worship service at...

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Pastor Mark Jackson prays with Jordan Kirby,4, during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson prays with Jordan Kirby,4, during a worship...

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Pastor Mark Jackson,M, sings Gospel hymns with other congregants during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson,M, sings Gospel hymns with other congregants...

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A congregant is overcome with emotion during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

A congregant is overcome with emotion during a worship service at...

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Desiree Jackson leads a prayer with her husband Pastor Mark Jackson during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Pastor Mark Jackson is all smiles as he sits-in on a Bible class at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson is all smiles as he sits-in on a Bible class at...

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Pastor Mark Jackson purchases snacks before a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson purchases snacks before a worship service at...

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Pastor Mark Jackson buys Donuts before a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark Jackson buys Donuts before a worship service at the...

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Pastor Mark and Desiree Jackson lead a prayer during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Photo: Sandy Huffaker, San Francsico Chronicle

Pastor Mark and Desiree Jackson lead a prayer during a worship...

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Desiree Jackson,M, leads a prayer with her husband Pastor Mark Jackson,L, during a worship service at the True Love Worship Center in Van Nuys, CA on Sunday, July 31, 2011. Mark Jackson is the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors.(Photo by Sandy Huffaker for the SF Chronicle)

Mark Jackson stands without a sound in the front left corner of his Southern California church, rocking from foot to foot with his eyes closed and his hands clasped behind his back.

This dance lasts several seconds before he interrupts the silence with piercing claps and starts bellowing prayers in a distinctive, deep voice. This solo act lasts several minutes more before the congregation joins with vociferous offerings and more clapping.

Within 20 minutes, Jackson rallies a group of 50 people - varying in garb from three-piece suits to lint-covered sweat suits - into a collective eruption of praise. Different languages and prayers follow him into such a thunderous roar that the fortitude of the building comes into question.

"These people don't care about anything I've done or will do in basketball," Jackson said. "They'd kill for me because of what I've done at this church in the past two years."

To say Jackson's ministry started two years ago would be a fact. In many ways, however, it started 46 years ago when he was born, 22 years ago when he met his wife and nine years ago in the Bahamas.

Jackson was born in a Catholic home, played in a Catholic youth basketball league and attended Catholic high school and college (St. John's). But he wasn't much for going to church services, and he wasn't "born again."

That changed soon after Desiree Coleman, a successful Broadway performer and R&B singer, caught his eye on TV. One look, and Jackson told his roommate he had found his wife - well before he had met the singer.

After Coleman turned him down twice, including an offer that included a first-class flight to Houston and courtside tickets at the 1989 NBA All-Star Game he was playing in, Jackson finally got a first date. But Coleman's full approval of Jackson didn't come at the dinner table or the movie theater of their first date, but in the closing minutes in his car - when she broke down her definition of salvation and he committed to it. They were married in 1990.

"I wasn't a bad kid," Jackson said. "I didn't have any drugs or drinking in my background. I didn't have anything crazy in my background. I was a college graduate. I bought my parents a house and a car. I loved my family. I was doing things the right ways, but, according to my belief, I was still on my way to hell.

"My life and my afterlife changed that night."

A purpose-driven life

Before long, Jackson had fulfilled his wedding promise and started guest preaching at St. Mark in Brooklyn. In 1997, Bishop Nathaniel Townsley and Bishop Dolores Smalls ordained Jackson as a minister, and at a 2002 conference in the Bahamas, another pastor prophesied that the Jackson family would someday open a church.

That came in 2009 when the Jacksons started renting a Seventh-day Adventist church on Wednesdays and Sundays. They celebrated their two-year anniversary in August, but the groundwork of the church had been established at least a year before with services in the Jacksons' home and a hotel ballroom.

Jackson's is a nondenominational church, based in common evangelical Christian doctrines. It hasn't shown any political activism but is involved in many of the community's charities. The truest spirit of the church seems to be expressions of love for everyone and enthusiastic worship.

Founders of the church and newcomers alike are greeted Sundays with sibling salutations and full hugs. Praise time goes beyond an "Amen" of agreement here and a hand lifted there - to the point that Jackson sometimes starts running laps around the makeshift sanctuary and is followed in circles by some members of the congregation.

"Even before I entered the sanctuary, I'm talking about out in the parking lot, I could feel the love," said Michael Johnson, who has attended the church for about a year and is taking membership classes. "I could tell from Day 1 that this is not a play thing for Pastor Mark.

"This is not a hobby. This is his life."

The family business

Jackson's life is largely centered on his family.

He tells his children he loves them when they say goodbye or goodnight. He kisses them when they say hello or good morning.

His wife brings him to tears.

"I could have married someone else, and I would have been a failure," Jackson said. "I found my good thing."

"Lady Dez," as she is known throughout the church, gave up a mushrooming career when the Jacksons started having children. Since then, she has turned down a number of reality TV pitches and has calculated her musical choices. One of her most recent Gospel singles, "I Want the World to Know," is featured on the church's website (trueloveworship.com).

As he was about to address the congregation one Sunday in August, Jackson took an awkward pause. He looked left, stepped down to huddle with his wife in the front row and returned to the pulpit.

"I just make it look like I run this," Jackson said to the crowd.

Forgive him for needing some help - even during the NBA lockout, Jackson stays very busy.

On a recent Thursday, Jackson sent a replacement cell phone to his oldest son in Louisville. On Friday, he drove his other two sons to the Michael Jordan Flight School (a youth basketball camp) in Santa Barbara. On Saturday, he funded a Forever 21 spree for his daughter.

Mark Jackson II is a redshirt freshman at Louisville, Heavyn is a 16-year-old only daughter, Christian (12) just got into the Oaks Christian school in Westlake Village (Los Angeles County), and Micah is 8.

His 'pastoral children'

Jackson also takes care of 300 other "pastoral children" - the membership of his church. And he does more than provide phones, rides and outfits.

"You come in here (on a Sunday) and see 300 folks," Jackson said. "I see 300 testimonies, stories of overcoming, stories of victories, stories of healing."

Jackson tells a detailed story about a phone call he received last NBA season, during which he was a broadcaster for ABC and ESPN. On the other end of the line was a church member who was contemplating suicide.

An hour passed: pleading for the forgiveness of organized religion. An hour passed: remembering the sweet songs the church member used to sing his wife and children. An hour passed: crying.

"You know that man Pastor Mark told you about? That was me," said Rodney Taylor, a hulk of a man who runs a production company in Oxnard and is known in the church as "Brother 6-foot-8." "I just wanted to give up, but he was there for me. I was 41 years old, and I finally got it.

"All these years of trying to figure things out, and I finally know where I am, how I'm supposed to be and where I'm going."

Plans for a place of their own

Van Nuys is in the heart of San Fernando Valley with 103,000 people from a mix of ethnic groups, and with a median income of $41,134. The congregation of 300 has tithed about $6,000 in two years toward a fund for buying a church - the goal is $378,000.

Though the main Seventh-day Adventist church has an expansive sanctuary with glorious stained-glass windows and a balcony, the Jacksons' congregation gathers in a separate fellowship hall on the property. It's the building beside the self-storage unit - the one that has an entrance blocked by a garbage dumpster. When Jackson pulls into the parking lot, he knows that his shiny, black Escalade doesn't exactly fit the surroundings.

Since the building is rented Wednesdays and Sundays, Jackson and his flock are responsible for setting up and breaking down the blue chairs that sit on the blue carpet. (The Seventh-day Adventist church meets Saturdays.) On Sundays, Jackson helps create the setting and then sneaks away with just enough time to buy flowers and doughnuts before he starts the services.

"When the opportunity presents itself to preach, I'm going to preach. When an opportunity presents itself to win a soul, I'm going to win a soul," Jackson said. "But sometimes the means is to shut up and live my life.

"I'm not going to beat somebody over the head. Souls are going to be won, because folks are going to see the consistency with which I live my life."

Jackson is believed to be the first ordained minister to be an active coach in professional sports. He is being compared in the Bay Area to fired 49ers coach Mike Singletary, who is deeply religious but not ordained. Jackson says he's more similar to ordained NFL personalities such as former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy and the late Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White.

Jackson says he isn't on a crusade to convert players in the Warriors' locker room, but he also isn't going to cuss. He said he hasn't used a curse word in more than 20 years.

Coaching philosophy

"I'm not going to limit myself to being a coach. I'm not going to limit myself to being a pastor," he said. "There are times when I'm going to be a coach, a friend, a dad, a pastor, a listener, a helper, a guide.

"When you're talking about coaching, you're talking about someone who has a responsibility to impact players on the floor. But I truly believe that you're also talking about someone who has the responsibility to impact players off the floor."

The Warriors don't have a scheduled home game on a Sunday this season. Jackson, whose family will continue to live in Southern California while he rents an Oakland condominium, will make the 50-minute flight south whenever possible.

Even though Jackson will be away from home and absent from his church more than he'd like, the Warriors' job is closer than the alternatives. He had previously interviewed for positions with Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis, Minnesota and New York.

"I believe that I was called to coach the Warriors and use that platform, so the pressure is not on me to do it," Jackson said. "I fully surrender and submit to God that there will be plenty of opportunities to get home to my ministry, but I'm not going to compromise my calling as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors."

The Warriors have lost 155 games in the past three seasons and gone to the playoffs once in the past 17. In 2012, they'll be in the playoffs, Jackson guarantees.

"I look at the talent, the upside, the draft, the coaching staff and the culture change," Jackson said. "I am not a guy who would say, 'We're going to playoffs' because it's a great headline. That's not me. In fact, people were shocked that I said only that, because that's not all I believe.

"I've been a winner all of my life, and I truly believe that great things are about to happen."

And he believes a higher power will show the way.

"I don't believe it's pressure on me, because my only job is to speak what I believe and then watch what God does," Jackson said. "Sometimes folks will stumble into blessings because of the overflow of favor on my life.